it home and was setting up my table saw to cut strips and noticed that
: the boards were a little thin. They measured .68" thick not the
: expected .75". . . .
: I'm sure I can deal with the extra strips to add to the kayak, but should I
: feel cheated by the lumber yard? I haven't heard of 1X6's coming in at
: anything less than .75" thickness... Is this something that anyone
: else has run into? Is this a western red cedar association thing? The
: boards are great looking: smooth, straight grain. . .

Sounds to me like someone had a 2x6 and resawed it into 2 (much more profitable) 1x6s. Last year, I went looking for some 1x4s (plain old white wood stuff) and was surprised to find them selling in the $3 range while 2x4s were selling for closer to $2. I was sorely tempted to buy the bigger boards and cut them down to size.

I would have cut my boards to bit over .75 inches and then planed them down to that. The remainder of the 2x4 would be thinner than I wanted, and relegated to scrap, orplaned down to .50 and saved for some other project. At the time I didn't have the time to do this, so I bit the bullet and bought the more expensive 1x4s. However, when I needed some 5/4, and 6/4 lumber for repairing door frames and windows, I didn't look twice at the exhorbitant prices of dressed lumber in those sizes. I just bought 2x4s and ran them through the planer. Made a lot of shavings, but saved a lot of cash.

FAScinating, (capitalization and pun intended) but long, paper published by USDA in 1964 about the history of board sizing. The report is 43 years old, and it doesn't have the current size standards, but it confirms some of the problems I've found when working with repairs to old houses.

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/misc/miscpub_6409.pdf

The battles between regional mills and long distance customers continue to make lumber size standards a matter of contention.

PGJ